[hydrophyte]

110 Native Wisconsin Riparium

I have a start on a new setup that will go into a local museum and will showcase native Wisconsin stream fish. I don't have a lot of experience with native fish, but I have been out a few times sampling and I have some familiarity with keeping darters and similar fish in aquariums. Here is a quick list with some of the species/genera that I want to consider using...

• southern redbelly dace (Phoxinus erythrogaster)
• central mudminnow (Umbra limi)
• rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum)
• various other darter possibilities (mostly other Etheostoma maybe also some Percina???)
• stoneroller (Campostoma sp.)

This setup is going to be a planted riparium to emulate a grassy streambank habitat that you owuld see along the edges of a typical Wisconsin coolwater stream. This picture form a while ago shows a 50-gallon riparium planting that I had going a while ago.

This tank had some Mexican livebearers and a Cryptoheros cichlid, but I think that general look wil be a good representation of a Wisconsin stream.

I had that tank filled most of the way to the top and with the plants growing up out of the top, but since this new riparium will be installed in a museum I am going to keep all of the foliage inside the tank and with a closed canopy on top. A taller aquarium style will thus be a better choice in this case. A standard 110 extra-high (48" wide X 18" deep X 24" tall) should be a good shape.

For the riparium configuraiton the tank will only be filled to about 40% of total volume, so (minus the space taken up with substrates) it will be just around 40 gallons of water. However, it will have a nice broad footprint so I should be able to get a good active fish display put together.

This project will present some unique challenges for the abovewater planted area. I do not intend to use any underwater plants--but I do want to assemble a really nice underwater hardscape--but the riparium plants will need to make that nice lush grassy streambank fell that is typical here in Wisconsin. Many of the plants that grow in the marginal situation here are probably strongly seasonal and require cold winter dormancies. You can't really keep plants like that in an indoor display very well for very long, so I plan to use a few "stand-ins" to make the right look. That Japanese sweetflag (Acorus gramineus) that I had in the 50G riparium would be a good one and I have a few other ideas too. Various sedges (Carex spp.), including some native ones, might also work pretty well. This shoudl be an instructive experience anyway.

It will take a while to get the actual setup rolling. But I am going to post up some more additional ideas here as they come to mind.

 

[Julio]

looks amazing!!! makes me want to put one up at my office, but my boss would kill me with all the stuff i have there already

 

[Ed]

I've grown some cultivars of Equisetum emersed year round as part of an exhibit. You just need to be able to contain it.

Ed

 

[hydrophyte]

Oh Equisetum is very typical for trout streams around here. Thanks for that idea!

 

[hydrophyte]

This is definitely the kind of stand constructoon that I am going to for this setup...

Because of the setting the stand won't work with an open bottom like this and it will need doors and side panels. I'll make those with 1/2" plywood panels painted a nice color and varnished. The doors and panels will mount flush with the outside edges of the red cedar boards.

I'll need to make a canopy to go along with this construction too. This would be easiest with painted plywood to match the doors, although it might be smarter with red cedar to match the horizontal boards(???).

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

what type of lumber did you use for the stand?

 

[hydrophyte]

Those boards are western red cedar, and the shelf is just 1/2" plywood pained and finished.